- Russia is teaching schoolchildren to operate combat drones, according to UK defense intelligence.
- It's a sign of how Russia has identified UAVs as a major aspect of contemporary warfare.
This fall, Russian children will return to the classroom for lessons in the usual subjects like math and science, as well as a few unusual ones, such as how to operate combat drones.
Lessons in drone warfare will join others on hand grenade skills and assault rifle training as part of a "Basics of Life Safety" syllabus for year 10 and 11 students, the UK Ministry of Defense said Monday. The drone lessons will be focused heavily on "how to conduct terrain reconnaissance and ways to counter enemy uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs)," according to the report.
Elementary school kids aren't going to become proficient in combat drone operations though. These classes are not really about that. It's likely less of an effort to "develop genuine capability" in students than it is to "cultivate a culture of militarized patriotism," the ministry said.
That said, the addition of combat drone training to the course indicates that Russia has identified UAV operations "as an enduring component of contemporary war." These assets, which come in all shapes and sizes, will have uses in the ongoing war against Ukraine and in future conflicts.
Unmanned aerial vehicles have been used extensively by both sides in the war in Ukraine, giving Moscow and Kyiv reconnaissance and attack options that have been applied to everything from artillery spotting to strikes on civilian infrastructure.
For Kyiv, versatile drones have helped even the odds against Moscow's military might.
Off-the-shelf drones have been used heavily in the artillery fight for spotting and fire correction, as well as for other forms of surveillance. They've also been used to grenades on troops, vehicles, and even mines and vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices for remote detonation.
Hobby-style first-person-view drones equipped with explosive weaponry and military-grade loitering munitions have also been effective along the front lines.
Unmanned systems have been used for strikes far behind the lines, too, sometimes even in Russia.
Russia previously accused Ukraine of using long-range drones to strike bases deep inside Russian territory. Earlier this year, there was also a drone incident at the Kremlin attributed to Ukraine.
And on Monday, a Ukrainian official acknowledged responsibility for a drone strike against two non-residential buildings in Moscow, CNN said. This incident follows another reported attack in May that damaged two buildings and injured two people.
And not all drones are airborne. Ukraine has operated ground robots that Russia has sought to steal, and drone boats, unmanned surface vessels, or USVs, that are cheap but effective, have seen use in damaging attacks on the Russian navy and the Kerch Bridge in Russian-occupied Crimea. The latter attack allowed Ukraine to severely damage Moscow's military and civilian access to the peninsula.
Meanwhile, Russia has used drones for similar purposes, such as battlefield reconnaissance. But it has also used them to bombard Ukraine's cities, typically civilian infrastructure, often in nighttime attacks. Kyiv and other cities have repeatedly been battered by one-way explosive drones, like the Iranian-made Shaheds.
On Monday, Moscow launched drones against Ukraine's port infrastructure on the Danube river, injuring six people. The drones were targeting grain stocks, which have become a contested resource as Russia pulled out of the Black Sea grain deal — which ensured Ukraine could safely export grain even as the war continued on — earlier this month.
There are a variety of drones in play in this war. On the battlefield, drones such as Ukrainian-made R18 octocopters and DJI Mavics are designed to drop bomblets or anti-personnel grenades on unsuspecting targets. In order to maximize their bomb payload, the drones are typically stripped of everything except the bare minimum needed to fly and operate, according to Radio Free Radio Liberty.
The Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 has been used by Ukraine for years but gained prominence shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion. Its laser-guided armor-piercing bombs and high-resolution cameras made it a legend in Ukraine's arsenal, taking down Russian tanks, armor, and patrol boats.
Their popularity — which has waned significantly as Russia's adapted its electronic warfare to jam the TB2 — actually inspired a Ukrainian folk song.
Meanwhile, assets like the Orlan-10 and Lancet give Russia the ability to conduct reconnaissance and scan for enemy positions before striking, though with different functions.
Iranian-made Shahed-136 loitering munitions — which are more appropriately referred to as one-way attack drones but have been called suicide or kamikaze drones — boast an operational range of around 1,250 miles and are packed with explosives. As Russian precision guided missile stockpiles dwindled, these cheaper alternatives became a weapon of choice for the Russians in attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Russia was first documented using loitering munitions – which are designed to linger in the air before locating a target and crashing into it — in March 2022, just weeks after the start of the war.
Ukraine's been using cheaper drones — in some cases, makeshift, single-use UAVs that carry bombs with zip ties and tape — to decimate larger, more expensive Russian tanks and assets. While they are effective, they can at times be dangerous to work with and rather risky to handle.
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But drones aren't a catch-all answer, as they can be rendered useless by bad weather or counter-drone technology such as signal jammers. Ukrainian forces ran into that problem last month outside of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian soldiers are hoping to outmaneuver the Russians on the outskirts of the ruined city but have had issues launching drones effectively for air power and surveillance.